


In the Grand Way

by Nicholas_Lucien



Series: Songfics [3]
Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Constrained Writing, Cure, F/M, Love, Songfic, Vampire Cure, sunrise, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:02:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicholas_Lucien/pseuds/Nicholas_Lucien
Summary: Nick sharing his first sunrise with Nat as a mortal and his thoughts on his new life.
Relationships: Nicholas Knight/Natalie Lambert
Series: Songfics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580884
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	In the Grand Way

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by the song 'In the Grand Way' by John Denver. Since lyrics cannot be posted here, you can do a search for the lyrics to find them. The title of this story comes from the song title.
> 
> Pardon any problems, but I wrote this one out in a few hours tonight.
> 
> I do not own these characters and is not intended to infringe upon any copyright owners. No profit is being made from this work.
> 
> On a more personal note, this song has very special meaning to me. In (unfortunately) quite a few jobs I had they had ended with me very mentally beaten up. On the last day, going to the parking lot for the last time, driving away from that job for the last time, feeling free, this song always played as the first song on the drive home. One time it happened to be the next song on my John Denver CD. Another time my iPod randomly shuffled to this song. On another, it was the song that was played on the radio station. It became a song that was a transition, marking the ending of something bad and the beginning of feeling free and looking forward to the morning of the next day. So I thought it would be a very good song for this type of story.

Nick groggily woke up, the events of the past few days slowly rushing up to him. As harrowing and exciting as they were, he pushed them aside in favor of what his senses were telling him now. With a slight smile, he opened his eyes, finally seeing what the receptors in his skin had been telling him. Natalie was lying partially on top of him, curled protectively around him, her head on his bare chest, her hair spread over him.

He lifted his arm off the pillow and ran his fingers first through the tendrils of her hair, then skimming his fingertips along the skin of her back. Nick then slipped his hand under the sheet and continued gliding down her back. Nat issued a sleepy sigh of contentment, then held onto him tighter. He knew she loved him, he had felt it in her actions, how patient she had been with him, the passionate way their bodies had moved with each other, and finally, the way she held him so close when they rested. Nick knew, without a doubt, she was his life now; the empty void within him had been finally filled.

Nick stayed under Nat for a while, enjoying his position, until the insistent rumbling of his stomach forced him to move. Gently, he extracted himself from her, grabbed his red and black silk jacket that had fallen to the floor earlier, and donned it while walking down the stairs of his loft.

Natalie found him later, sitting on the leather couch, the shutters opened to the dark skies, and the remote wedged between the cushions. He had been thinking: thinking about his life, thinking about what his life would be now. She sat down beside him, leaned up against him, and Nick felt the tug of her pulling on his mug. He opened his hand and allowed her to swap out the empty one for another. Nick curled his fingers protectively around the cup, warm from the hot coffee inside. He enjoyed the feel of the warmth transferring to his skin. He took a sip and worked to not spit it out. He was getting better at it, and the coffee was not as revolting as it had tasted even a week ago. Nick sighed – so much had changed. He felt her fingers play in his hair and he forgot about the taste of the coffee.

“What were you thinking about? When you were staring out those windows, you looked so serious.”

“I’m not afraid anymore.” Nick finally took his eyes off the windows and looked at Nat. “This last week, so much has changed.” He put the warm coffee down on the table and turned to face her. “You did it – you freed me. There were the tests, and the waiting, and what I went through-”

“Nick, I … I know that hurt-”

Nick couldn’t make out anything else Nat might have said, as she had buried her head into his chest while hugging him. He enveloped her in return. “I feel it,” he uttered into her hair, “there’s no more running.” She pulled back from him. “I don’t have to run away – from LaCroix, from Hunters, from myself.” Nick quickly glanced at the windows, the pale light of dawn beginning to change the sky. “From the sun,” he continued. He gently pushed aside some stray tendrils from Natalie’s face. “For the first time, I’m actually looking forward to the morning.”

They had embraced, touching each other simply because they didn’t want to have any separation between them, and watched the sunrise. Nick looked down at Natalie, he had only ever seen her once with the sun upon her and with him bathed in the light as well. It reminded him of the colors of the sunsets, the autumn trees, and the mountain rivers of his mortal youth. He nuzzled her. At that moment he felt the balance and harmony with her, and flooded within the morning light of the new day, he realized what this day actually meant. “You know what this means, Nat?”

“There are so many more samples I need to gather and run tests on.”

Nick smiled at her enthusiasm, not so much the idea of more samples being harvested from him. “No. There’s no tomorrow.”

“Nick, I know it might feel like it, but time hasn’t actually stopped.”

“I don’t mean that,” he said, leaning back from her. “For centuries,” he seriously began, “every day I thought that maybe tomorrow it would be over; maybe tomorrow I wouldn’t have that drive to drink blood; maybe tomorrow I would be mortal.” Nick reached out to entwine his fingers with Nat’s. “Now, there is no tomorrow. I don’t have to wait another day. I’ve looked forward to not having a tomorrow, and its finally here.” He didn’t move as Nat playfully lunged at him, embracing him once again. Nick allowed himself to be pushed onto his back, feeling the cushion under him yield while Nat adjusted herself to be more balanced on top of him. He reached up to kiss her.

Later, when they had finished and eaten something, Nat had insisted she needed to gather her samples. Nick had obliged, and now was holding the cotton ball against his skin to help absorb the blood that had leaked out from the needle wound while also watching her pack up her equipment.

“Are you okay, Nick? You seem distracted. Are you in pain?”

“No,” Nick assured her. “Just … feeling.”

“This is all new, Nick. You should share what you’re going through, how you are changing.”

He let out a sigh. “I figured I would feel a bit strange for a while.” Nick looked down at the table. “It was like that when I was brought across. When LaCroix ….” He heard Nat slide a chair close to him and sit down. Then he felt her comforting hand rubbing his back. “When LaCroix shared his blood with me,” Nick continued, “a bond was forged, a link with him that always vibrated.” He turned to face Nat. “That link ….” He turned away from her.

“That hasn’t gone away, has it?”

“I can still hear it, but it’s different now. It’s a sad, lonely sound. It’s getting dimmer, like some freight train in the distance, slowly going away from you.”

“That’s good, right?”

“As that sound gets weaker, I feel my life losing ground.”

“Nick, breaking the final bond with LaCroix isn’t a bad thing, you aren’t losing your life. This is what it means to be mortal, not a vampire tied and bound to a maker.”

Nick turned to face Nat. “I know, it’s for the good. Feeling like you’re losing means I’m mortal; my time isn’t infinite and I’m finally walking again towards an end.” He reached over to pat her hand. “I’ve also been feeling like I’ve been dreaming, like all those centuries were just a terrible dream.” Nat got out of her chair and embraced him. Nick was once again reminded of her love, and he felt it in the way she held him close to comfort him, like she had held him when the vampire within him had reared up and fought against dying.

At the end of the day they had watched the sunset together, then they had made their way back to his bed. It had been wonderful for Nick, caressing and touching a mortal without fear of the vampire taking over and killing. Afterward, they had laid on their sides facing each other. Nick had begun with stroking her face, then progressed to slowly trailing his fingertips down her neck, then finally along the rise of one breast. Nat arched away from him, which angled the breast closer to him. He leaned over to kiss and tease the nipple. Natalie curled over and shifted to get closer to him.

“I love you.”

Nick traced a finger across her lips. “I love the morning.”

“Not me?”

Nick responded with a lopsided grin at her mock irritation. “I adore you,” he rumbled. “And you gave me the morning.” He leaned over to kiss her again.


End file.
